Widow of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas: "This agreement is not justice. My husband’s life does not have a price."

A San Diego federal judge on Thursday tentatively approved the U.S. government’s offer to pay $1 million to the children of a Mexican man who died after being beaten and shot with a Taser at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, ending seven years of litigation in the lawsuit that has brought national attention to use of force at the border.

The settlement, after attorney fees, will be dispersed among the five children of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, including his 10-year-old son and daughter who appeared in court. The San Diego fifth-graders were 3 when their father was killed following the confrontation on May 28, 2010.

“This agreement is not justice,” said Hernandez Rojas’ common-law wife, Maria Puga, at a news conference following the hearing. “My husband’s life does not have a price. The decision had to be taken and it was difficult. We had to turn the page.”

The settlement required a judge’s approval because two of the children are minors.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Louisa Porter delayed signing the final order until she is certain the funds didn’t need to go through probate.

“I hope you use the funds so you can have a good life going forward,” Porter told the two 10-year-olds, adding it is what their father would want. “He came to this country to improve his life, and he’d like to see your lives improved by virtue of all the sacrifices he made for you.”

Attorneys for the government were not required to appear in court Thursday, and they didn’t. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego declined to discuss the settlement and directed The San Diego Union-Tribune to the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, which handled the case, also declined to make a statement.

The case has shined a spotlight on use of force at the border and the lack of transparency at CBP, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, which includes Border Patrol.

Because of the family’s persistence, CBP’s use-of-force manual was made public and studies were launched looking at the issue, said Pedro Ríos, director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Program at American Friends Service Committee, an immigrant rights group in San Diego.

The family and immigration rights activists said the fight for justice at the border is far from over, especially in light of President Donald Trump’s push to hire 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 immigration agents to increase border security.

“Remember, in this case not only did agents take a life, but they attempted to destroy evidence, they dispersed witnesses,” said attorney Andrea Guerrero, co-chair of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, a group of 60 immigration-rights organizations from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas.

“We are at a crossroads. … Congress has the power of the purse. Congress has the power to exercise some level of accountability right now by conditioning any funding to this agency with meaningful oversight, accountability and transparency.”

Attorney Eugene Iredale, who represented the family, said the case highlights the critical need for public awareness and involvement to prevent brutality. He lauded the two witnesses who stopped to record the beating on their cellphones — video that was shared around the world.

A judge has approved the U.S. government's offer to pay $1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit involving the beating and Tasering of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas which will be divided between his two children.

A judge has approved the U.S. government's offer to pay $1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit involving the beating and Tasering of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas which will be divided between his two children.

“Unfortunately the attitude that was so prevalent in what happened to Anastasio has now received a renaissance because of a new administration,” Iredale said.

Hernandez Rojas, who had lived and worked in the U.S. illegally since he was 15, had just crossed illegally near Otay Mesa with his brother when they were caught by Border Patrol agents.

At a Border Patrol station, an agent told him to throw away a water jug then slapped it out of Hernandez Rojas’ hand when he appeared to misunderstand the command, according to the lawsuit. The agent threw him against a wall and kicked his legs apart, hitting metal pins in Hernandez Rojas’ ankle from a previous injury, the lawsuit said.

Hernandez Rojas requested medical attention and told a supervisor he had been roughed up but was ignored, according to the suit.

Authorities decided to send him back to Mexico immediately and took him to the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The agents took off his handcuffs and Hernandez Rojas put his arms down instead of behind his head, prompting the agents to try to restrain him. Hernandez Rojas fought their efforts, and two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rushed over to join in the struggle. They hit Hernandez Rojas with batons, held him face down on the ground and handcuffed him again, according to the lawsuit. Another agent kneeled on his back.

During the struggle, Hernandez Rojas can be heard on a witnesses’ video pleading for help and asking why are they treating him like an animal.

Hernandez Rojas again resisted efforts to get him into the vehicle to book him into custody, authorities said. More backup arrived, including several CBP officers. One shot him with a Taser and others held him face down and grabbed his legs.

They discovered that Hernandez Rojas had stopped breathing. He was taken to a hospital and put on a ventilator for two days before dying.

An autopsy concluded he had died of a heart attack and it listed numerous contributing factors, including methamphetamine intoxication, heart disease, the Taser shocks, the physical exertion and restraints. The autopsy stated he would not have died if he hadn’t been under the influence of drugs, the Justice Department said.

Federal agencies, including the Justice Department and FBI, investigated the death but found there was not enough evidence to justify criminal charges against any of the 12 agents or officers involved. Iredale said there have been no sanctions against the agents or officers.

“It’s an embarrassment to this agency to continue to have the 12 agents working, the agents who killed my husband,” said Puga, 46, who lives in San Diego with four of her children.

While this litigation is now over, there is still a pending complaint accusing the U.S. government of failing to properly investigate and prosecute the death before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, an autonomous judicial body in Washington, D.C.